Archives: themes

Faith, here’s an equivocator that could swear in both the scales against either scale, who committed treason enough for God’s sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven. O, come in, equivocator.
(II.iii.8-11)

Today we discussed the theme of ‘Equivocation’ in more depth – specifically as it relates to the play regarding the deceitful, duplicitous, and treacherous events that have been occurring. Remember “Outside appearances conceal the evil within”. I asked you for some examples from the play and we brainstormed a number of instances with corresponding line #s. Be sure to document the Act and Scene for each of these so that your notes are complete. We also talked briefly today about iambic pentameter (used for the higher class, educated, wealthy citizens), prose (used for the common folk, uneducated, lower class), and trochaic tetrameter (used for the witches – often supernatural characters).

Do you remember who the porter is referring to in the quotation at the top of this post? Reply with your response and why this person is historically significant in terms of this play. What other instances of equivocation do you recall or have come across? Post them in the reply area below.

Thanks to Liam @lmarshal4109 for being my Guinea Pig for this video! In this video, now that you have requested and have your own personal blog on The Commons, I will show you how to easily access your blog, customize it to your liking and personality, and tweak a setting necessary to ensure that all of our blogs are easily accessible for commenting for the class (and beyond). Please be sure to do this immediately after requesting your site to ensure you remember to do it.

Welcome to our English class! I’m excited to learn alongside you this semester. I’d also like to know before we get going what you think about when you hear the word ‘English’, when you see it on your timetable, or when your friends or family ask you, “What do you have this semester?”, and you say, “this, that and ‘English'”. I know that I’m not teaching you how to speak English but, beyond that, I don’t know what your perception is of the course before we begin. During this ‘Post-it Note Pile-Up’ exercise I would like you (individually), and then together as a table group, to brainstorm your thoughts of what you believe ‘English’ to be and then, as a class, chunk them into categories that represent the theme of each note. Once you have identified the main themes of what you believe ‘English’ to be we’ll have a discussion about how we can create our experience together. Remember, this is our class, not mine. You will design our journey as much as I do and I look forward to being your partner in the process.